Toy for use with dolls

ABSTRACT

A toy is provided which is in the form of a collapsible toy classroom having desk structures in which dolls can be seated by children playing with the dolls. The device is movable between an open position in which the desks receive the dolls and a closed position in which the device resembles a carrying case.

United States Patent 1191 Wannan [4 1 June 5, 1973 5 41 TOY FOR USE WITH DOLLS FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1 Wanton Mary Ell wanna, 183 Arthur 700,976 12/1964 Canada ..46/12 Street, Dryden, Ontario, Canada 22 Filed: 0C1. 7, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 187,401

[52] US. Cl. ..46/12 [51] Int. Cl; ..A63h 33/30 [58] Field of Search ..46/12, l7, 19

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,069,012 7/1913 Higgins ..46/12 2,040,974 5/1936 Bigelow... ....46/l2 2,872,753 -2/l959 'Fenton ..46/l2 Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner-Robert F. Cutting fitiofie y David Rogers, Daniel R. Bereskin,

Richard J. Parr [57] ABSTRACT A toy is provided which is in the form of a collapsible toy classroom having desk structures in which dolls can be seated by children playing with the dolls. The device is movable between an open position in which the desks receive the dolls and a closed position in which the device resembles a carrying case.

2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures TOY FOR USE WITH DOLLS This invention relates to a toy and more particularly to a collapsible toy classroom having desk structures in which dolls can be seated by children playing with the dolls.

Although many shapes and sizes of dolls are available, a large number of dolls known as fashion dolls have been sold. These dolls are generally about 10 inches in height, have jointed limbs and can be dressed in a variety of clothes made available by the manufacturers of the dolls. Children find these dolls most desirable because they are life-like, readily transported together with clothing in small cases, and are supplied with many and various clothes which the children can use to clothe the dolls according to'imaginary situations. For instance, clothes are available for events such as weddings, sports occasions, fancy dress and night attire.

Although the dolls are available with a great variety of clothing, there are few structures for use with the dolls to make the games played by children more realistic and educational.

According to a particular preferred embodiment of the present invention, a device is provided which is collapsible between open and closed positions, the device resembling a school room having desks for the dolls when in the open position, and when in the closed position being readily transportable and resembling a carrying case.

The invention will be better understood with reference to the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a device according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on lines 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view similar to a view on lines 4-4 of FIG. 1 and showing an alternative form of the structure of the device;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. and showing an alternative embodiment of the device; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a portion of the structure.

Reference isfirst made to FIG. 1 which shows a device 10 in an open condition. The device will be described in this condition to identify the parts and then the manner of collapsing the device will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

The device 10 consists of a base structure 12 support ing a pair of collapsible platforms 14, 16 spaced apart in parallel arrangement. The platforms in turn support respective rows of desk structures 18, 20 in which dolls can be placed in a sitting position. Upon collapsing the platforms 14, 16 a lid 22 can be attached by springbiased clips 24 (one of which is shown in this view) to the base 12. The structure 12, platforms l4, l6 and lid 22 are preferably of a plastics material although any other suitable material can be used.

Base 12 consists of a rectangular floor 25 having longer sides from which respective upright walls 26, 28 depend upwardly. Each of the shorter sides bordering the floor 24 has respective pairs of end walls 30, 32 extending upwardly therefrom and attached to adjacent side walls 26, 28. Each of the end walls 30, 32 has a width substantially equal to the width of one of the platforms 14, 16 so that the platforms and end walls combine to define the side limits of an aisle 33 passing between the desk structures 18, 20.

The platforms l4, 16 are attached by respective hinged flaps 34, 36 to inner faces of side walls 26, 28 adjacent the tops of the side walls and respective legs 38, (FIG. 2) and 40 are attached to the under sides of the platforms 14, 16 adjacent the inner extremities of the platforms and at the longitudinal centres of the platforms.

Each row of desk structures 18, 20 consists of a seat structure 42 at the rear of the row, two combination seat and desk structures 44, 46 spaced apart and in front of the seat structure, and finally a desk strucutre 48 in front of the forward combination seat and desk structure 46. The spacing between the structures is sufficient to permit a doll to be placed in the sitting position on one of the seats of the structure 42, 44 and 46. Each of the structures 42, 44, 46 and 48 is preferably of molded plastics material and attached to a corresponding one of the platforms l4, 16 by any suitable means such as adhesive, bonding, and the like. As will be described with reference to FIG. 2, the heights of the desk structures are related to the distance between side walls 26, 28 to permit the device 10 to collapse into a closed position.

The lid 22 consists of a top portion 50 proportioned to fit relatively snugly inside side walls 26, 28 and end walls 30, 32 for engagement under biased clips 24. A pair of end pieces 52, 54 depend downwardly from the top portion 50 and are proportioned for engagement in the aisle 33 between respective end walls 30, 32 to form apparently continuous end walls when the device is in the closed position. Reference is now made to FIG. 2 which shows the platform 14 in a raised position, and the platform 16 in a lowered position. Platforms 14, 16 are attached by respective hinges 56, 57 to the flaps 34, 36, the hinges being preferably formed by thinning the material of the respective platforms adjacent the flaps to make the material more flexible locally. Platform 14 is collapsed by folding leg 38 up into contact with the underside of platform 14 as is better seen in FIG. 3. The leg 38 is typical of both legs 38, 40 and includes a hinged tab 59 attached to the underside of platform 14 by any suitable means and platform 14 is collapsed into a lowered position by moving leg 38 towards platform 14 and lowering the platform into a position corresponding to that of lowered platform 16. The row of desk structures 20 is then below the upper extremity of the end walls 30 (FIG. 1) and 32. When both platforms are lowered, the rows of desk structures 18, 20 are in a position in which the lid 22 can be positione in engagement with base structure 12 and held in place by clips 24. The device 10 then resembles a carrying case and a handle 58 is preferably provided on side wall 26 for carrying the device.

It will be evident from FIG. 2 that the aisle 33 between the rows of desks provides storage space for placing the dolls when not in use. Also, if preferred, the dolls can be left in the desks and the device collapsed without dislodging the dolls from the desks.

Although the base structure, platforms and lid are preferably made of plastics material, they can nevertheless be made from a combination of other materials. For instance, as seen in FIG. 4 a platform 60 consists of outer skins 61, 62 of a relatively thin plastics material sealed about their periphery and containing a rela tively rigid insert 64 of dense cardboard or other similar material. Similarly, the base structure 12 can be made of materials resembling that shown in FIG. 4 for platform 59.

Reference is next made to FIG. 5 which shows an alternative embodiment of the device. In FIG. 5 a device 66 is provided resembling that shown in previous figures. Parts similar to those already described will be given primed numerals. The main difference between device 66 and device is that the floor 25' has hinge lines 68, 70 running substantially parallel with side walls 26' 28'. After collapsing the device into the position shown in FIG. 2, the side walls 26' 28' are then rotated to fold the structure about hinge line 68, 70. With suitable proportions, the folding results in the upper extremites of the side walls meeting at the top of the collapsed structure and the upper extremities of respective end walls 30, 32 also abut so that the device resembles a carrying case. This structure requires no lid and is smaller than the structure previously described. As a result, although this structure may be preferable in some instances, there is no storage space for dolls in the collapsed structure. For this reason the structure shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 is considered preferable so that children can store all they require for a school game in the case and then simply open the case to commence the game.

Minor structural modifications can be incorporated to improve the structures if required. For instance as seen in FIG. 1, leg 38 has a projection 72 adapted to locate in an opening 74 in the floor of the base structure. This improved the stability of the structure.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A toy device for use with dolls, the device comprising: a base structure having a rectangular floor, a pair of upright side walls, and a pair of end walls, the side and end walls being dependent from respective edges of the floor and vertical edges of each wall being attached to respective vertical edges of adjacent walls; a pair of platforms; hinge means coupling the platforms one to each side wall adjacent respective upper extremities of the side walls, each platform having a width slightly less than the vertical distance between thefloor and the hinge means and the hinge means permitting each of the platforms to move angularly between raised positions in which the platforms are generally horizontaland lowered positions in which the platforms extend generally vertically downwards from the hinge means inside respective corresponding side walls, the sum of the widths of the two platforms being substantially less than the distance between the side walls to define an aisle between the platforms with the platforms in said raised positions; a plurality of desk structures attached to the platforms to be upright when the platforms are in the raised positions and to extend horizontally to-.

2. A toy device as claimed in claim 1 in which the v floor'is foldable so that with the platforms in the lowered positions, the side walls can be moved into positions in which the side walls are uppermost and horizontal. 

1. A toy device for use with dolls, the device comprising: a base structure having a rectangular floor, a pair of upright side walls, and a pair of end walls, the side and end walls being dependent from respective edges of the floor and vertical edges of each wall being attached to respective vertical edges of adjacent walls; a pair of platforms; hinge means coupling the platforms one to each side wall adjacent respective upper extremities of the side walls, each platform having a width slightly less than the vertical distance between the floor and the hinge means and the hinge means permitting each of the platforms to move angularly between raised positions in which the platforms are generally horizontal and lowered positions in which the platforms extend generally vertically downwards from the hinge means inside respective corresponding side walls, the sum of the widths of the two platforms being substantially less than the distance between the side walls to define an aisle between the platforms with the platforms in said raised positions; a plurality of desk structures attached to the platforms to be upright when the platforms are in the raised positions and to extend horizontally towards the aisle when the platforms are in the lowered positions whereby with dolls sitting in the desk structures and with the platforms in the lowered positions, the dolls are partly in the desk and partly in the aisle thereby storing the dolls below upper extremities of the walls; means adapted to support the platforms in the raised positions; and a lid adapted to co-operate with the base structure to enclose the desk structures with the platforms in the lowered positions.
 2. A toy device as claimed in claim 1 in which the floor is foldable so that with the platforms in the lowered positions, the side walls can be moved into positions in which the side walls are uppermost and horizontal. 